Thursday, September 18, 2014

I know, I know. I haven't been writing much here for a loooong time. This blog is one of my longest running projects and I have no plans on closing it down anytime soon though, so here is a little update.

I'm giving up on trying to catch up here on all the stuff that has happened since my last blog posts, but briefly I've been doing a few camps, traveled a loooooot, rehabbed more injuries than you can imagine, gained weight to 90+ kg then dropped 10 kg again, competed once in NAGA Germany, busting up my hand from an opponent grabbing it with gorilla strength and haven't had a haircut all year.

Since April 2010, I have basically been constantly out with injuries. It's about 2.5 years now where I've not been able to train properly. I've been teaching a lot, but rolling has been extremely limited. Usually I've managed to do a week or two before I had to take a long break again, and when I finally did roll, I was very limited in what I felt I could do with my body. I did do a few competitions, but it was never with more than a few weeks preparation and always with a long break after.

BUT! It seems like there was light at the end of the tunnel, as my body finally starts to feel ok again with my shoulder, lower back and knees healing up well. It's hard to believe, but I've been training at a pretty decent intensity for one and a half month now, consistently doing hard sparring four days of every week.

As always, coming back to Jiu Jitsu is one of the hardest things to do. My cardio sucks, my grip strength is gone and everyone in my class seams to have gotten so much better while I have just been sitting and watching them for years. I don't have any easy rolls in my classes anymore, there are so many guys who pushes me to the limits of my game, which has given me a new found inspiration for training.

Today I did a 60-minute, non stop sparring round. Having been out of the game for so long, it is hard to believe that this is really it; that I am back. But I consider today a nice milestone on my journey, and I am a very happy, tired grappler :)

Sunday, September 22, 2013

For way too long, I've had problems with my knees. It all started with this toe hold a while back, that blew my meniscus and tore my ACL:

It was a big issue for me, when I was traveling and a constant worry in the back of my mind. A few years and lot of De La Riva guard later, I had accumulated even more little injuries, and while waiting for another injury to heal, I decided to have surgery on both knees and get it all done at once.

It's been a week since my double surgery now, and my knees are healing up day by day. I can walk pretty normally already and should be able to be back on the mats in 2-3 more weeks from now.

It's frustrating to be sidelined, but at least the rest of my body feels pretty good at this point (back, shoulder and what else injuries I've been battling). So hopefully, when the knees are healed up, I can really get back in action.

Just to make sure I wouldn't go crazy from not doing anything for so long, I've made it my project to lift weights at a bit more serious level. Back in 2006-2007, I weighed a whopping 90 kilos, but since I dropped weight for a competition, I have been consistently under 80 kilos. There is a NAGA competition in Paris in two months and the no-gi weight classes are -80 and -90 kg, so just because I can, I've set it as my goal to reach 90 kilos for that event. I started 8th of August with the project and it's going pretty well so far and looks like I can make it. It will be fun to be a heavy weight again! :D

Lots of other stuff is going on here. I am working hard on promoting two training camps, one is a fall camp here in my gym in Copenhagen, Denmark and another is a surf and BJJ camp in El Salvador in February. If you wanna join in, you are most welcome! :)

Sunday, August 25, 2013

This is so frustrating, it is beyond belief. All I want to do is to teach and train Jiu Jitsu and for TWO YEARS straight, I have been constantly injured now. I honestly think my longest run of consistent training in those two years is no more than a couple of weeks.

Mid June I hit my knee on the mat and it felt a bit sore. Didn't think it was anything serious, but it didn't heal and felt like having an open wound that someone was pouring salt in every time I touched the mat with it. Knee bursitis is the verdict. Slowly gets better and after nine weeks I get a cortisone shot. Same day I feel great in training and with thick knee pads can pretty much post my knee on the mat with just a slight pain. Then, one wrong movement, and it sweels up and feels MUCH worse than in the beginning.

Today, I pulled a blanket over myself and just that touching my knee had me screaming in pain.

To make matters worse, I think I am going to go for a meniscus surgery soon. Not that I was likely to do any training during my rehab period anyways.

This blog seems to be about nothing but me whining over injuries. WORST ANNIVERSARY EVER.